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You never know what a day in Brasil will bring, but this time it gave me a live radio interview. Now, I don’t speak Portuguese. I really wasn’t sure how interesting the interview would be with an interpreter, but I have to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
It wasn’t my first live radio interview. (And, I never thought I’d ever be able to say that.) I had a half hour interview in Liberia earlier in the year. But, I can easily tell you the biggest difference. This time, I sat in an air-conditioned room. There was no swelter, no sweat, and I wasn’t left alone in the room to wither and drip. I sat in the same room with my interpreter, the interviewer, my host, one of the painters from my first mural and her mother.
Most questions don’t surprise me anymore. However, this interviewer moved the conversation into US politics. That was new territory. I’m told Brasilians love to talk about politics. He wanted to know if I drew political cartoons. Even though there was a lot of material for political cartoons this year, I stay away from that.
He also asked what other kinds of art do I do. Do I paint on canvas? No. But, I paint Christmas ornaments on eggs. Now, in Portuguese and Spanish, if you do anything with “eggs” there is a whole other connotation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m not going to tell you. But, there was a whole lot of laughter in the radio station.
The interview was at least a half hour. Hey, I could live without a clock in the room as long as there was no swelter. I thought it might be best to end with a good laugh. So, I asked Geremias to tell once again, about my first embarrassing moment in Brasil. He had that story down very well. He told it so many times.
On my first morning in the country, we went to a restaurant. By the cashier, they served little glasses of coffee from a thermos. I love coffee, but I mostly love “dessert coffee” with vanilla, cream, hazelnut, sugar, whipped cream and/or/all of the above cinnamon. There were two bottles next to the coffee so I decided to add whatever kind of “vanilla” Brasilians might include with their brew.
You never know what a day in Brasil will bring, but this time it gave me a live radio interview. Now, I don’t speak Portuguese. I really wasn’t sure how interesting the interview would be with an interpreter, but I have to tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
It wasn’t my first live radio interview. (And, I never thought I’d ever be able to say that.) I had a half hour interview in Liberia earlier in the year. But, I can easily tell you the biggest difference. This time, I sat in an air-conditioned room. There was no swelter, no sweat, and I wasn’t left alone in the room to wither and drip. I sat in the same room with my interpreter, the interviewer, my host, one of the painters from my first mural and her mother.
Most questions don’t surprise me anymore. However, this interviewer moved the conversation into US politics. That was new territory. I’m told Brasilians love to talk about politics. He wanted to know if I drew political cartoons. Even though there was a lot of material for political cartoons this year, I stay away from that.
He also asked what other kinds of art do I do. Do I paint on canvas? No. But, I paint Christmas ornaments on eggs. Now, in Portuguese and Spanish, if you do anything with “eggs” there is a whole other connotation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m not going to tell you. But, there was a whole lot of laughter in the radio station.
The interview was at least a half hour. Hey, I could live without a clock in the room as long as there was no swelter. I thought it might be best to end with a good laugh. So, I asked Geremias to tell once again, about my first embarrassing moment in Brasil. He had that story down very well. He told it so many times.
On my first morning in the country, we went to a restaurant. By the cashier, they served little glasses of coffee from a thermos. I love coffee, but I mostly love “dessert coffee” with vanilla, cream, hazelnut, sugar, whipped cream and/or/all of the above cinnamon. There were two bottles next to the coffee so I decided to add whatever kind of “vanilla” Brasilians might include with their brew.
My cup was dumped when my horrified hosts realized what I had done.
I must have done well on the radio. The interviewer was so pleased. He had to give me a little walking tour of the area. And, that tour included something I’d been trying to find for two weeks – an old Brasilian cowboy. This guy heard the radio interview and came looking for me. I was thrilled to get his portrait. I travel with a short “to do” list. Anything in addition to that is considered dessert in my mind. Well, it might not have been dessert coffee, but meeting an old cowboy after the interview was definitely the dessert to a very positive experience.